Last night Liz and I checked out the local Texas Roadhouse. This one happened to be located at the Newington mall. The other day at work, some employees came in and gave Liz, and her co-workers, some bread and envelopes to be opened at the restaurant on a particular week. So this gave Liz and I an excuse to go.
If you’re not already familiar with where it’s located, it’s easy to miss. It’s tucked away on a hill in the corner of the parking lot. Depending on which way you’re coming, it’s not hard to drive right on by - especially if the sun is in your eyes.
The food was standard and the service was pretty good. The manager came by to see how everything was, as usual, but he wasn’t creepy, weird, or overbearing. For a few years I used to frequent this establishment in Muncie with a group of friends from college and our server/waitress always tried to sit on my lap…totally unwelcomed. At least I never had an incident like at the Applebee’s in Marion.
So at the end of our meal the manager came by to open our special envelope. He kind of made a big deal out of it and I gave him my best “I care” attitude. So he rips open the thing and plops down a free admission to the local roller skating place. I said, “oh, ok.” He then told me that prize kinda sucks and then gave me a coupon for a free entree next time we come back. Not too shabby.
I would guess that one of the things people like least is the DMV, BMV, or that place you get your driver’s license. In fact, trips to that place can be downright horrific. This morning I took a trip to my local DMV here in New Hampshire to get what appears to be a photocopy license.
I had heard some stories. They’re changing up the way they do things I guess and now you get a temp license and some central location actually prints the real thing and sends it to you. That just sounds like an opportunity for disaster with mail fraud.
The wait wasn’t too horrible. I got in and out in under an hour. Just had to fill out a short form, give up my Indiana license, show proof of residency (car registration), and show them my passport. Fifty dollars later, I was out the door.
It’s always interesting being in places like this and observing how people act and react to the situation. So far, everybody has been pretty nice to us here in NH, and this statement extends to both the city hall and the DMV. I don’t often utter this phrase, but, nice work government. One interesting circumstance was an elderly woman trying to either get or renew her license. She looked and sounded just like the grandma from Happy Gilmore. I kept picturing her answering the door with a KISS mask on. She wasn’t too happy about having to take the written test. Hopefully she did alright.
If you’re in the same boat as I am, my advice to you sir would be to get there early. Hopefully you’ll beat the long lines that snake around the room.
I just realized it’s been almost a month since I last got on here. A lot has been going on. Liz is livin it large in France following the Tour again and I’ve been getting acquainted with a new job and town. New Hampshire’s not a bad place. Where we’re at is just big enough that everything is here, but not too big that I’m getting lost in a big city.
I’ve been cooking a lot of things and trying different combinations out. Last week I was able to recreate chili cheese burritos I like so much at Taco Bell. I also just finished up an insane week of work while we were hosting a new conference for 16 faculty from around the region. It was a lot of hands-on work and they even let me teach a couple sessions. I definitely hit the wall halfway through Friday, but at least I had the weekend to catch up on sleep.
The podcast is still going. Everybody kept asking me if I was going to keep it going. Working on some new interview opportunities. Hopefully they go well.
Liz should be back in a week and I’ll get to show her everything I’ve discovered out here while she’s been away.
After Liz’s weeks of packing and my several days of concentrated packing, we were able to get our moving truck all loaded up with the help of 8 or 10 friends. Helping people move is something I’ve done a lot, but you never realize what a big deal it is until people help you.
This afternoon, some of the people from yesterday, and a few other friends, met us at Clancy’s for some bowling. On Sundays you can get a lane for $8/hr. That’s a pretty good deal compared to normal charges per person per game.
Tomorrow we’ll be heading out of town on our way to New Hampshire, so if you don’t hear from us for a few days, that’s probably why. The cable company is scheduled to setup our internet on Wednesday so we should be able to check out email then.
Since Liz and I will be moving soon, it seems I’ve been trying to do things just one last time before we’re gone. Some are going quite well, and others not so much. This past weekend we went to Iowa to hang out with the gang since we probably won’t be seeing them for a while. We obviously had to make a trip to Harris. Best pizza in the world. Now that would be an example of a good experience.
A couple weeks ago Liz and I walked down to TOPPIT, a local pizza place, and the experience was pretty lame. This is one of those places that every time we go I’m left asking myself why. Service is terrible, it took forever to get our food, and we charged $5 more than the menu said due to rising costs. Good thing they put a little sign on the register because putting a sign on all four tables would have really been a pain.
I’ve also been doing my weekly chicken strips with ranch trips to the BP station and we’ve been trying to hang out with all of our friends as much as possible. I’m kind of looking forward to after we move when I won’t be constantly busy all of the time. Sure there’ll be things to do like getting settled in at a new job, unpacking those boxes, and learning my way around, but at least I won’t be having to schedule in something to do almost every single night for a month solid. Maybe after we move I’ll have some down time to work more on all of my web projects.
So Liz and I are going to be moving, date to be determined, this summer. This may not sound like a huge deal, except I’ve been trying to get some things in order at work. I’ll be finishing up my 9th year of working there. First four years were as a student worker, 5th year was a full-time student-employee supervisor, and the last four years have been full-time hourly. There are a lot of things I do that nobody else has ever touched. Writing out instructions, tips, and what-have-you can be a daunting task.
This weekend we’re making a 1,000 mile trek so Liz can do a campus visit, we can look at some possible places to live, network with some people, and so I can go to what I’m interpreting as a pseudo-interview. On top of all this, I’ve been trying to schedule a phone call interview for a fund raiser with some fellow Achievers who obviously aren’t millennials. Even though I’m not from that generation, I sometimes forget that some people don’t have three email accounts open all day, a cell phone in their pocket, and several chat programs at their fingertips.
So with the finalization of a two year educational technology Lilly grant, a Second Life presentation, podcasting, blogging, and life…I now have a day to make sure I’m ready for a road trip. I usually work well under pressure though so things should work out.
My buddy Solomon, from the Education department, and I head over to the local Taco Bell every once in a while to grab some lunch. I’ve known Solomon goes over there a lot more often than I do, but I found out today just how often. Today was my turn for buying and as we’re ordering I saw a manager/supervisor in the back making orders to help out during the lunch rush. She saw Solomon and he waved. She then started yelling something to the cashier. I didn’t understand what she said, but it ended in me getting a 10% discount.
About a week ago we decided we’re going to be moving to New Hampshire for the fall. Liz had applied to a handful of MFA programs and has chosen to go to UNH. So I’ve started the process of looking into possible academic technology positions in the area. Today I found the department website and some contact information for the equivalent of what I do at TU. I worked on an email for a couple of hours along with a little research of their website and what they do. I had about 5 people take a glance at what I had written up and got some input on things to add and change. So I sent off the email and 19 min later I got a reply. They don’t have any current job openings, I knew that because I’ve been checking the available jobs for the university, but she would like to meet with me when we’re on campus in a couple of weeks. Booyah!
It’s not often I buy clothes. I’m sure some people think I don’t really care about the clothes I wear, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’m all about comfort. There are only about 3 shirts I even wear to work and I’ve been wearing them since 2001 or 2002. Once I find something I like (pants, shirts, shoes) I’ll wear it(them) until I can’t anymore.
Sadly enough, all of my good pants wore out about 4 months ago and all I had was an old pair of big pants. These jeans are so big they had to be worn with a belt so they’d stay up. I’ve been wearing them at work this whole school year and now the bottoms are all frayed. I decided it was finally time to get something new.
I was able to find a couple pairs of jeans and a couple pairs of khakis. Besides being loose-fitting and comfortable, another pants criteria I have is the pockets. I tend to carry about 5 lbs of stuff around with me and I can’t abide pockets I can’t put things in. I think these are the first pairs of new pants I’ve bought in at least a couple years. Hopefully they last a while.
I know Liz thinks it’s weird that I am sometimes awake or eating at odd hours. It’s not uncommon for me to be up some mornings at 3am checking my e-mail, watching some TV or even making a sandwich. On the other hand, I sometimes come home and take naps after work if I’m tired.
Well tonight, after getting home from Muncie, Liz decided to make Mac N Cheese and some sausage a little after 11pm. I didn’t want to say anything, but I think maybe Liz is starting to pick up on some of my good habits.
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